Public Safety
Baltimore is experiencing meaningful, multi-year declines in violent crime, driven by focused strategies, community violence intervention, and cross-sector collaboration. GBC works alongside the Baltimore Police Department and regional leaders to reduce gun violence, rebuild the force, and ensure public safety gains translate into opportunity for every neighborhood.
A Coordinated Strategy for Safer Communities
Through its Public Safety Committee, GBC advances a coordinated, evidence-based approach to reducing violence and strengthening public safety systems. GBC champions proven violence reduction strategies—such as the Group Violence Reduction Strategy and Community Violence Intervention programs—that are driving double-digit declines in homicides and nonfatal shootings by aligning business, government, and nonprofit partners around shared metrics and directing resources to the communities most impacted by gun violence.
In parallel, GBC partners with the Baltimore Police Department to address workforce challenges by removing barriers to service and strengthening recruitment and retention, contributing to early gains in sworn officer staffing and projected academy graduates through employer-led solutions like a cadet driver’s license program, spousal employment support, and expanded housing options.
Lend Your Leadership to Public Safety
We bring employers and civic leaders together to invest in prevention, support neighborhood-based solutions, and help accelerate Baltimore’s turnaround. By getting involved, partners play a direct role in linking public safety and economic vitality—helping create a virtuous cycle in which safer streets attract investment, grow jobs, and strengthen community well-being.
Join the Public Safety Steering Committee and help move this work forward.
Media Coverage
WYPR examines the city’s newly unveiled second phase of its successful violence reduction strategy, and considers whether it can build on past successes and achieve its stated goal of reducing violent crime by 15% annually over the next five years. Read more.
Gov. Wes Moore has been touting parts of the budget he’ll be unveiling, to go with legislation he intends to champion in Annapolis. Read more.
Baltimore recorded its lowest number of homicides in nearly 50 years. The city ended 2025 with 133 homicides, marking a significant decline since Mayor Brandon Scott took office. Read more.
Police data show steep homicide reduction amid reforms and partnerships. Read more.
Baltimore is on track to record fewer than 200 killings this year for just the fourth time in five decades. But gun violence is decreasing across most American cities. Read more.
Baltimore Police recorded 71 homicides from January through May, a marked decrease compared to the same period last year and the second fewest homicides tallied in the first five months of a year since 1970, according to a review of police data. Read more.
Baltimore’s residents feel crime is a major issue. Despite signs of improvement, they’re split on whether things are really getting better. Read more.
As State’s Attorney Ivan Bates announced charges against juveniles in a carjacking and robbery spree, he also emphasized holding parents criminally and financially accountable when they knowingly enable their child’s crimes. Read more.
A Banner analysis of newly obtained police data shows ghost guns make up 20% of crime-related guns in Baltimore. A recent legal win for the city against Polymer80 is progress, but will it be enough? Read more.
The number of high school-age shooting victims in Baltimore is decreasing for the first time in three years, a sign of progress in a city beleaguered by gunfire. Read more.
A West Baltimore neighborhood served by Safe Streets reached a major milestone, with Penn North going a full year—478 days—without a homicide investigation. Read more.